Better system for continuous planning, implementation and documentation

Nordland Betong is one of northern Norway's biggest manufacturers of ready-mixed concrete and concrete products, with annual net sales of NOK 180 million and 25 employees. They chose M-Files from Konica Minolta because they wanted a smart solution to a complex challenge involving documentation. Their journey began 2-3 years ago.

Better systems for continuous planning, implementation and documentation needed

The major challenge that Nordland Betong was facing concerned the maintenance of its machine fleet, a process that the company had launched in parallel with replacement of its IT systems. Concrete production requires a significant range of equipment.

Maintenance and non-conformances must be planned and documented to ensure consistent production quality. It is also crucial in ensuring the equipment is safe to use. Unplanned equipment downtime is extremely costly.

“We needed better systems for continuous planning, implementation and documentation to make it easy to produce reports for the management, but also for the supervisory authorities. For instance, we have to report annual expert inspection of forklift trucks, lifting gear and similar equipment to the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, and we need good systems and document management so that this task is not too expensive,” says Mosand.

He came into contact with M-Files from Konica Minolta at an office seminar in Bodø, and was interested in this solution that could quickly supply document management in a simple, professional, high-quality way. Creation of workflows, advance planning of events and adapting document management to the needs of the company were also straightforward.

More than just a document management tool

Nordland Betong spent six months developing a requirements specification and developing pilots of the system for managing maintenance. The company received excellent support from Konica Minolta in Oslo along the way. Although Bodø and Norway's capital are far apart in terms of distance, he never­theless found that expertise was never far away when he got stuck.

M-Files is far more than just a document management tool and can handle objects that can be inserted in a workflow.

“As far as maintenance is concerned, we use M-Files to plan activities ahead of time – for machines, or components in a machine,” explains Mosand. For instance, the transmission in a machine may need to be maintained four times a year. This means a task is generated four times a year in M-Files and remains in the system until it is executed, which also provides security from a management perspective. “This gives us control over everything that has to be done, ensuring it is systematic. The tasks remain in the system until they’re acknowledged and any non-conformances have been dealt with,” he says.

Four vaults with different access levels

Nordland Betong has gradually started using M-Files in a number of areas. M-Files is organised into what are known as vaults, and at present the company uses four such vaults with different access levels. The maintenance vault is open to everyone working with maintenance. The safety representa­tive also uses this vault for all safety work. Safety inspec­tions, safety protocols, environmental certification tasks and renewal of agreements are all defined. This system maintains an overview of periodic checklists and associated tasks to be performed. The HR department also uses M-Files for all documentation linked with expertise and personnel, and only the HR department and management have access to this, and an M-Files Board vault is used for minutes and Board work.

“As far as we’re concerned, M-Files is a useful and versatile tool that we use in many areas. The great strength of this tool is the fact that it's simple enough for an ordinary Norwegian company while also being extensive enough to meet complex needs in a professional, high-quality way,” says Mosand.

Mobile access

One outstanding element of M-Files is its mobile access, which means that Mosand can always access everything on his mobile phone. The user can browse through directory structures, view non-conformances and read project docu­ments. “It’s simple and straightforward to use, and all vaults can be accessed over Wi-Fi or the mobile network. It has a search module that works with document metatags or plain text searches in documents. As far as I'm concerned, finding documentation exactly when I need it is really simple, no matter where I am,” says Mosand.

• Planning of activities ahead of time for machines or components in a machine
• Tasks remain in the system until they are executed
• Providing high security by using four vaults with different access levels
• Mobile access for every user: accessing documentation from everywhere

• Maintenance and non-conformances of machine fleet must be planned and documented to ensure consistent production quality
• IT systems were old and obsolete
• Existing system portfolio had no systems for document management, maintenance and non-conformance control
• Need of better systems for continuous planning, implementation and documentation to make it easy to produce reports for the management and the supervisory authorities

• Implementation of M-Files which supplies document management in a simple, professional, high-quality way
• Creation of workflows, advanced planning of events and adapting document management to the needs of the company